Appabattts fob feinting designs



Aug. 30,1927. I 1,640,678

A. 5. SPEER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING DESIGNS Original Filed Feb. 9. 1921 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 30,1927. 1,640,678

I A. S. SPEER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING DESIGNS Original Filed lfeb. 9. 121 2 Sheets-Sheet z Z1 31 Svwewtoz Patented Aug. 30, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ALEXANDER S.- SPEER, OI BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO CENTRAL TRUST COMPANY OF'ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS, AND AKSEL K. BODHOLDT, 0F EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR PRINTING DESIGNS.

a ncmoifaiea February a, 1921, Serial No. 443,518. Renewed m 9, 1923.

or the like, which are distinct and cannot be readily obliterated butwhich nevertheless do not result in marl-ing or disturbing the oppositeface of the material.

The character of the invention may be best understood by reference toone illustrative apparatus embodying the invention and shown in theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is a side view of a machine for making prepared roofing,

Figure 2 is a front view of the printing roller and its supportingmechanism,

Figure 3 is a plan View of the same,

Figure 4 is a detail section through the die,

Figure 5 is a detail section through the compressing rollers,

Fig. 6 is a similar View at right angles to Fig. 5. i

I shall explain the use of the illustrative apparatus in connection withasphalt roofing, which is one kind of material to which the inventionapplies. For this purpose I have illustrated diagrammatically apparatusfor making asphalt roo ing and have indicated one arrangement forconveniently employing my invention in connection with such apparatus.It will beobvious, however, that the invention is not limited in its useto this particular arrangement or with apparatus of this character.

In the preparation of prepared roofing, composed of an absorbentfelt-like base or body saturated with a waterproofing and adhesivecompound, and provided on one face with a non-adhesive surface layersuch as a protective coating of crushed stone or the like, it isdesirable that the sheet or web of roofing be provided with trademarkdesigns, and that these. designs be upon the reverse face of the sheetor web, that is upon that face which will be hidden when the roofing isin use. It is also desirable that such designs be not visible on theweather face of the roofing. I have found it very difficult to impresssuch designs on the finished sheet or web, because of the fact that somemark of the design appears on the weather side, and this regardless ofhow much care is exercised in the impressing of the designs. In thisillustrative instance, the impressions are made on the base or body ofthe web or sheet, and before such web or sheet receives the protectivecoating. Preferably I make the impressions before the web is saturatedwith the waterproofing and adhesive compound, because of convenience inmanufacturing, but 1t 15 possible to make the impressions after thesaturation of 'the sheet or web, and before the application of theprotective coating.

- In the present embodiment of the invention, the web 1 of absorbentmaterial, which in practice is of a felt-like nature, is supported upona reel 2. The web is passed'betweeii a pair of rolls 3 and 4, the roll 3being a platen roll, while the roll 4 is a printing roll, carrying dieswhich impress the designs on the under face of the web. From the rolls 3and 4, the web is passed through a solution of waterproofing andadhesive material, as for instance asphalt, held withinla tank 5, theweb being guided through the tank by direction elements 7 in the form ofrollers. It will be obvious that the Web may be retained in the solutionas long as may be necessary to thoroughly saturate the same with thewaterproofing and adhesive solution, and as it leaves the solution it isengaged by compressing rollers 8 and 9, which express the excesssolution from the Web. These rollers are arranged above the tank, sothat the excess solution flows back into the tank. After the web passesrolls 8 and 9 it is customary, though not necessary, to apply aprotective coating such as heavy asphalt to t e wearing side of thematerial. This coatin thickness, governed Iiy the space between therolls 10. Ordinarily no coatin is 'placed on the'opposite side of theweb. ince the saturating or preserving compound and the coating are ofanadhesive character, it is desirable to apply a coating of powdered ormay be of anydesired so that the material may be handled without dangerof sticking together. If desired, a Wearing surface of crushed stone orthe like may be placed upon the asphalt coa'ting not only to stabilizethis coating but to give to the material a pleasing appearance. Thiscrushed material may be suitably applied to the web from the hopper 11.It will be understood that the asphalt coating applied to the web andthe crushed stone or the like are applied to the surface of the webopposite that bearing the impressed designs. From the coating rollersthe web passes to the finishing machine, Where it is cut into strips, orinto shingles, as may be desired.

It might be thought that the impressed designs would disappear under thepressure of the compressing rollers, but this is not the case. I havefound that instead of obliterating the designs, they are made deeper bythe compressing rollers, because of the fact that Y they are filled withan excess of solution as they pass between the rollers, and suchsolution is trapped in the impressions. Since the saturating solution isincompressible, the pressure applied thereto by the passage of the webaround the roll, is transmitted to the web and tends to deepen theimpressions therein. In other words, while the web itself may becompressed in passing over the roll 8, for example, the saturatingcompound trapped in the depressions cannot be compressed and thus thepressure exerted upon the web in the regions of the depressions isconcentrated upon the web in this region and thus tends to deepen thedepressions rather than obliterate them. Approximately what takes placeis illustrated in Fig. 6, in which the dark cross-sectioned areasrepresent the solution trapped in the depressions as the web passes overthe roll 8. After the web leaves the compressing rollers, the liquidwhich fills the indentations of the impressions is absorbed by the baseor body, leaving a clearly impressed design. After the application ofthe protective coating, which covers the weatherside of the web, thereis no possibility that any mark or indication of the design could bevisible through such protective coating. The solution before drying, aswell as after drying, cements those fibers of the felt closely togetherwhich have been displaced by the characters of the die, and after thesolution has dried, such fibers are firmly held, so that they cannotre-act to lessen the clearness of the design.

The dies 12 which make the impressions are held in recesses 13 providedin the peripheral surface of the printing roll, and they are held by setscrews 14. The. roll is mounted on a shaft 15, which is held in the arms16 of a yoke. The body 17 of the yoke is journaled on a shaft 18, whichis supported by a. bracket 19, connected to a suitable support 20 bybolts and nuts 21. The shafts 15 and 18 are connected to the yoke bytapering pins 22, and the printing roll is free to rotate on the shaft15, while the shaft 18 is free to rotate in the bracket 19. Because ofdifferences in thickness of the web, one of the rolls 3 or 4 should bemounted to yield away from the other. In the present instance theprinting roll is yieldingly mounted. The yoke body has a laterallyextending arm 23 which is connected by a link 24 with one end of a lever25. This lever 25 is pivoted intermediate its ends on a bracket 26connected to the support 20 by bolts and nuts 27. A hanger 28 isconnected to that end of the lever 25 remote from the printing roll, andthis hanger is designed to support a series of Weights 29 which aredetachable to permit the pressure of the printing roll I against theplaten roll to be varied. A cable 30 is connected with the lever, forlifting said lever, to swing the printing roll away from the platen rollwhen desired for any purpose. An oil cup 31 is arranged at the end ofthe shaft 15, and the lever 25 is supported by a bolt 32. The charactersof. the dies are flat faced as shown in Figure 5, so that the fibers ofthe body are not cut, but are displaced and compressed. The charactersare raised characters, and of a height corresponding to the depth of theimpression desired.

In the operation of making roofing, the felt is passed betweenthe'printing roll and the platen roll, where it is impressed with thedesign. It is then passed through the solution, and between thecompressing rollers, which remove the excess solution. Afterwards theprotective coating is applied, and rolled by the rollers 10. Thecompressing rollers are so arranged that the direction of movement ofthe web is changed as it passed between them, whereby that face of theweb which carries the designs is caused to engage one of the rollersover a relatively large area. This extended engagement traps thesolution in the impressions, so that it cannot escape in any direction.

Obviously the invention is not limited to any specific form ofconstruction and the details of he illustrative apparatus may bevariously modified. Moreover, it is clear that the invention maybeemployed in different relationships than that herein illustrated.Furthermore, it is not indispensable that all features of the inventionbe used conjointly inasmuch as they may be employed advantageously invarious different combinations and sub-combinations.

Reference is made to my copending application, Serial. No. 443.514. inwhich I claim the article and method herein disclosed.

I claim- 1. In apparatus of the character specified, means for applyinga protective coating to one face of a waterproofed web of absorbentmaterial, and means for impressing designs upon the opposite face beforethe protective coating is applied.

2. In apparatus of the character specified, means for saturating a webor sheet of absorbent material with a waterproofing and adhesivesolution, a pair of rollers for expressing the excess solution from theweb and arranged so that the direction of movement of the web is changedas it passes between the rollers whereby to cause one face of the web toengage one of the rollers over a relatively large area, and means forimpressing designs upon the said face of th web before it is saturated.

3. Apparatus for applying desi s or identifying data to a web ofrelative y soft fibrous material, comprisin in combination, means forimpressin the esigns or the like in one side of the we and means forcementing or fixing the fibers of the web to retain the impres ions ofthe designs.

4. Ap aratus for ap lying designs or identifyingv data to a we ofrelatively soft fibrous material, comprising in combination, means forimpressing the designs or the like in one side of the web by compressingthe web, means for applying a compound to said web for setting thefibers thereof to retain the impressions, and means for momentarilyconfining some of said compound under pressure in the impressions of thedesign to deepen said impressions. a

5. Ap aratus for ap lying desi ns or identifying data to a well ofrelatively soft fibrous material, comprisin in combination, means for imressing the esigns or the like in one side 0 the web, means forcementing or fixing the fibers of the web to retain the impressions ofthe designs, and means for applying a coating tothe other side of the we6. In apparatus for treating terial of the kind described, t

a web of mae combination comprising means for applying a preservingcompound to said material, means for impressing designs or the like inone side of said web, a roll over which said web passes with the sidebearing the impressions against the roll, and means for exertin pressurebetween the web and said roll w ereby the preserving compound in the"impressions in said web is placed under pressure, tending to deepensaid impressions.

7 In apparatusof the character described, the combination comprising,means for imressing designs or the like in a web of brous material;means for treatin said web with a waterproofing compoun and meansthrough which said treated web passes for removing excess water roofingcompound and cooperating with sai web to prevent the'obliteration of theimpressed designs during removal of the excess waterproofing compound.

8. In apparatus of the character described, the combination comprising,means for treating a web of fibrous material with a waterproofingcompound; an embossing" device forimpressing designs or the like in theweb before treatment. with the waterproofing com ound;v means foryieldingly preming toget er said embossing device and said web; and aroll for removing excess waterproofing compound from said web, said rollbeing constructed and arranged so that the im ressed face of said webcontacts with said roll as the web passes over it.

9. In apparatus of the character descri bed ,the combination with meansfor applying a preserving compound to a web of material, of means formipressing designs or the like in one face of the web; and meanscooperating with said impressed web after.

the treatment of the web with the preserving compound to preventobliteration of the impressed designs.

In testimony whereof I afiix my si nature.

' ALEXANDER S. SP ER.

